Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/344

Rh mas Linacre (1524), and with the co-operation of his friends Latomer and Grocinius, a society was formed there "ad illustrandam Aristotelis philosophiam et vertendos denuo ejus libros." But the undertaking does not appear to have been carried. into execution.

With Casaubon, who intended to promote the study of Aristotle in various ways (as e.g. by a collection of the fragments of the πολιτείας, see Casaub. ad Diog. Laërt. v. 27), the series of philologists ends, who paid attention to the writings of Aristotle; and from the beginning of the seventeenth to the end of the eighteenth century the history of Aristotelian literature is a perfect blank. For among the large number of eminent scholars. which the Dutch school has to boast of, with the exception of Daniel Heinsius, whose desultory labours bestowed on the Poetics and Ethics hardly deserve mentioning, not one can be named who made Aristotle the subject of his labours; and a complaint made by Valckenaer, respecting the neglect of the philosopher among the ancients, applied at the same time to the philologists of his own age. (Valck. ad Schol. Eurip. Phoen. p. 695.) Nor has England, with the exception of some editions of the Poetics by Burgess and Tyrwhitt, Goulston and Winstanley, any monument of such studies worthy of notice. In Germany lectures on the Aristotelian philosophy were still delivered at the universities; but with the exception of Rachelius, Piccart, Schrader, and Conring, who are of little importance, scarcely any one can be mentioned but the learned Joh. Jonsenius (or Jonsius, 1624- 1659) of Holstein, and Melchior Zeidler of Königsberg, of whom the first rendered some valuable service to the history of Aristotelian literature (Historia Peripatetica, attached to the edition of Launoi's work de varia Aristotelis fortuna, &c., Wittemberg, 1720, ed. Elswich.), while the other was actively employed on the criticism and exegesis of the philosopher's writings.

In Germany, Lessing was the first, who, in his Dramaturgie, again directed attention to Aristotle, particularly to his Poetics, Rhetoric, and Ethics. Of the philologists, Reiz, and the school of F. A. Wolf, e. g. Spalding, Fülleborn, Delbrück, and Vater, again applied themselves to the writings of Aristotle. But the greatest service was rendered by J. G. Schneider of Saxony (1782-1822) by his edition of the Politics and the History of Animals. Several attempts at translations in German were made, and J. G. Buhle, at the instigation of Heyne and Wolf, even applied himself to an edition of the entire works of Aristotle (1791-1800), which was never completed. At the commencement of the nineteenth century, their ranks were joined by Gottfried Hermann and Goethe. Meantime a new era for the philosophical and philological study of the Stagirite began with Hegel, the founder of the prevailing philosophy of this century, who properly, so to say, was the first to disclose to the world the deep import of the Greek philosopher, and strenuously advocated the study of his works as the noblest problem connected with classical philology. At the same time the Berlin academy, through Bekker and Brandis, undertook an entirely new recension of the text; and the French Institute, by means of prize essays, happily designed and admirably executed, promoted the understanding of the several works of Aristotle, and the means of forming a judgment respecting them.

The works of Ravaisson, Michelet, and Barthélé my-St. Hilaire are valuable in this respect. Several French translations also made their appearance. In England, in like manner, where the Ethics and Rhetoric of Aristotle still maintained their place in the course of classical instruction, some works of merit connected with the study of Aristotle have appeared of late, among which Taylor's translation may be particularly mentioned.

The most important editions of the entire works of Aristotle are: 1. Aldina, editio princeps, by Aldus Pius Manutius, Venice, 1495-98, 5 vols. fol. (called also Aldina major). For the criticism of the text, this is still the most important of all the old editions. 2. Basileensis III. Basil. 1550, fol. 2 vols., with several variations from, and some essential improvements upon, the editio princeps. It has been especially prized for the criticism of the Politics. The Basileensis I. and II., which appeared at Basel in 1531 and 1539, are nothing but bad reprints of the editio princeps. 3. Camotiana, or Aldina minor, edited by Joh. Bapt. Camotius, Venice, 1551-53, 6 vols. 8vo. 4. Sylburgiana, Francof. 11 vols. 4to. 1584-87. This edition of Sylburg's surpassed all the previous ones, and even the critic of the present day cannot dispense with it. 5. Casauboniana, Lugd. Batav. 1590, by Isaac Casaubon, 2 vols. fol. reprinted in 1597, 1605, 1646. This is the first Greek and Latin edition of the entire works of Aristotle, but prepared hastily, and now worthless. The same may be said of the 6. Du Vulliana, Paris, 1619 and 1629, 2 vols. fol.; 1639, 4 vols. fol. by Guil. Du Val Much more important is the 7. Bipontina (not completed), edited by Joh. Gottl. Buhle 1791-1800, 5 vols. 8vo. It contains only the Organon and the rhetorical and poetical writings.

The continuation was prevented by the conflagration of Moscow, in which Buhle lost the materials which he had collected. The first volume, which contains, amongst other things, a most copious enumeration of all the earlier editions, translations, and commentaries, is of great literary value. The critical remarks contain chiefly the variations of older editions. Little is done in it for criticism itself and exegesis. 8. Bekkeriana. Berolini, 1831- 1840, ex recensione Immanuelis Bekker, edi. Acad. Reg. Boruss., 2 vols. text, 1 vol. Latin translations by various authors, which are not always good and well chosen, and not always in accordance with the text of the new recension. Besides these, there are to be 2 vols. of scholia edited by Brandis, of which only the first volume has yet appeared. This is the first edition founded on a diligent though not always complete comparison of ancient MSS. It forms the commencement of a new era for the criticism of the text of Aristotle. Unfortunately, there is still no notice given of the MSS. made use of, and the course in consequence pursued by the editor, which occasions great difficulty in making a critical use of this edition. Bekker's edition has been reprinted at Oxford, in 11 vols. 8vo., with the Indices of Sylburg. Besides these, there is a stereotype edition published by Tauchnitz, Lips. 1832, 16mo. in 16 vols., and another edition of the text, by Weise, in one volume, Lips. 1843.

We possess no safe materials for a chronological arrangement of the several writings, such as was